There are several options for a PowerFlex appliance deployment.
PowerFlex appliance nodes use PowerFlex to operate storage and tie in workloads. PowerFlex appliance uses these PowerFlex features:
- Storage Data Client (SDC), which consumes storage from the PowerFlex appliance.
- Storage Data Server (SDS), which contributes node storage to PowerFlex appliance.
- PowerFlex Metadata Manager (MDM), which manages the storage blocks and tracks data location across the system.
- Storage Data Replication (SDR), which enables native asynchronous replication on PowerFlex storage-only nodes.
PowerFlex enables flexible deployment options by allowing the separation of SDC and SDS components. It addresses data center workload requirements through the following PowerFlex appliance deployment options:
| Deployment type | Description |
| Hyperconverged | Compute and storage reside within the same server. |
| Two-layer | Separates compute resources from storage resources, allowing the independent expansion of compute or storage resources. Consists of PowerFlex compute-only nodes (supporting the SDC) and PowerFlex storage-only nodes (connected to and managed by the SDS). PowerFlex compute-only nodes host end-user applications. PowerFlex storage-only nodes contribute storage to the system pool. |
| Hybrid hyperconverged | Consists of PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes, PowerFlex compute-only nodes, and PowerFlex storage-only nodes. Some nodes contribute both compute resources and storage resources (PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes), some contribute only compute resources (PowerFlex compute-only nodes), and some contribute only storage resources (PowerFlex storage-only nodes). |
| PowerFlex compute-only nodes | Consists of PowerFlex compute-only nodes (supporting the SDC) on Microsoft Windows Standard or Datacenter, embedded operating system, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. PowerFlex compute-only nodes hosts end-user applications. |
| PowerFlex storage-only nodes | Consists of embedded operating system nodes which contribute storage resources to the virtual environment. The back-end traffic shares the same PowerFlex data networks. No SDC components are installed on this node. SDR is only supported on PowerFlex storage-only nodes with a dual CPU. |
PowerFlex storage-only nodes shared deployments use the same four PowerFlex data networks for both SDC and SDS communications. Two-layer deployment allows the rebooting of PowerFlex compute-only nodes without PowerFlex ramifications.
When designing initial deployment or specifying later growth, use PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes. You can add PowerFlex compute-only nodes, or PowerFlex storage-only nodes as needed.
- PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
- PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- PowerFlex storage-only nodes
When hyperconverged nodes are mixed with PowerFlex compute-only nodes or PowerFlex storage-only nodes, it create a hybrid deployment.